


In Good Faith

by wendelah1



Series: Demons [4]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Gen, post-episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-05
Updated: 2013-10-05
Packaged: 2017-12-28 09:23:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/990384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wendelah1/pseuds/wendelah1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scully and Mulder meet with Skinner to discuss the events in "Demons."</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Good Faith

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amalnahurriyeh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amalnahurriyeh/gifts).



> This was started back in February as a Purim gifts treat for Amalnahurriyeh. Like the other stories in the "Demons" series, it's a post-ep for, yes, "Demons." This story is meant to bridge the gap between it and "Gethsemane."

She was right. Security wouldn't let Mulder into the building. He had to wait in the lobby while they called Skinner's office. They'd taken his gun, too. Mulder hated being without his weapon; he didn't felt safe unless he was carrying, least of all at FBI headquarters. 

"Don't say I told you so," Mulder grumbled. 

Scully watched as he leaned his chair back a little too far and hit his head on the wall. 

"Ouch," he said, a little theatrically. She concentrated on her breathing. 

Next came a longer delay outside Skinner's office. She hated this. It made her feel like a school girl, waiting to see the principal. Not that she'd seen the office of Sister Mary Theresa of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face. The Face, as the students called her, was not someone you wanted to meet...face-to-face. 

"Is he doing this on purpose?" Mulder lowered his voice to a stage whisper. Kim, Skinner's secretary, acted as if she hadn't heard him. Scully decided to follow suit. 

When his door finally opened, they all snapped to attention. Skinner looked dour, but no more than usual. 

"Agent Scully." Scully stood up. 

"Sir, I'd like to come in with her," Mulder said. 

Skinner frowned. "No. I'll let you know when I'm ready for you." He held open the door for her. 

Scully had known Skinner would talk to them separately. 

She'd hardly taken her seat when he cut to the chase. "Agent Scully, a fax arrived on my desk this morning from the Providence Police Department. Detective Curtis has made some serious allegations. Were you present when Mulder fired those four rounds?" 

Scully sat up even straighter. "Yes, Sir." 

"Where was Agent Mulder when you entered the residence?" 

She'd been afraid, not for herself, only that they were too late. "He was in the living room, sitting in the dark." _Leave me alone, Scully_. 

"What was Agent Mulder's state of mind when you found him?" 

_You'll tell him what you saw, what you know._ "Agent Mulder had been injected again by Dr. Goldstein with a powerful anesthetic agent called Ketamine. He was agitated. Experiencing both auditory and visual hallucinations, which are a known side effect of the drug." 

Skinner frowned. "Goldstein. He's the psychiatrist who treated Amy Cassandra and that police officer who shot himself. Is there anything else you can tell me?"

"Mulder was bleeding from two wounds on his forehead sustained at the hands of Dr. Goldstein. The police found a drill bit with blood on it, which was taken into evidence. I believe that blood will prove to be Mulder's." 

Skinner tapped on the paperwork. "According to this, Agent Mulder held you at gunpoint and then threatened to kill himself?"

"No, Sir. Agent Mulder had the gun pointed at himself when I arrived at the house. When I tried to stop him, he turned the gun on me." 

She'd pleaded with him. _This is not the way to the truth. You've got to trust me_.

_Shut up!_

She heard each shot ring out as Mulder emptied his clip. 

"Agent Scully, are you all right?" 

"Yes, Sir. I'm fine." 

Skinner gave her an appraising look. "Can you get me your report by the end of the day?"

"Of course, Sir."

"In your professional opinion, is Agent Mulder a danger to himself or to others?" 

"No, Sir. Not at this time." After the near tragedy with John Lee Roche, she'd hoped Mulder's obsession with his sister's disappearance would diminish. She'd been wrong, almost fatally so.

"Please wait outside while I talk with Agent Mulder."

"Yes, Sir." That was all? Scully wasn't sure if she should be relieved or disappointed.

"One more thing." Skinner's expression softened. "How are your treatments going?"

The concern on his face was nearly her undoing. There was so much she was holding back, from him, from her family, and of course from Mulder. "They're completed...for now." What else could she say? She would need to tell Skinner the truth, that the treatments had not worked, but this was not the right time. 

Oh God. It was never going to be the right time. 

Skinner gave her another look. "You can send Agent Mulder in."

Gratefully, Scully stepped out of the office and beckoned to Mulder. 

"My turn at bat." As he passed her, he murmured, "Wish me luck." She met his eyes and tried to smile.

She wanted to leave, but she'd been given an order. Her throat was dry and her stomach was churning. Perched on the edge of the sofa, her hands placed carefully in her lap, she tried not to think about the conversation in the next room, to no avail. She was worried for him. 

She settled back on the sofa and closed her eyes. She kept coming back to the same issues. Would Mulder have more seizures? What if he became suicidal, like Amy Cassandra? She ticked off the possible results of a frontal lobe injury: change in mood, increased irritability, impaired ability to make good choices and recognize consequences. An inability to regulate behavior. So maybe Mulder getting the second hole drilled in his skull was a direct result of the first. Jesus.

Hearing the office door open, she quickly straightened.

"Agent Scully." Skinner stood waiting. Silently, she followed him into the room and sat down next to her partner. Glancing quickly over at Mulder, she was struck by the change in his demeanor. Mulder looked subdued, but there was an undercurrent of emotion. What had Skinner said to him? 

"Agent Scully, you should know I've placed Agent Mulder on indefinite administrative leave, pending satisfactory medical and psychiatric evaluations." This was what she'd foreseen, what she'd both feared and hoped for, in truth. Mulder would protest it as unnecessary, but she thought otherwise. Thank goodness Skinner did, too. Mulder needed a cooling off period. So did she. 

Skinner pushed back from his desk, looking first at Mulder, then at her. "Is there anything else you'd like to add, Agent Scully?"

She could feel Mulder's eyes on her. "No, Sir." Skinner had to have brought up her illness to Mulder. Now he was trying to give her a chance to talk about it. She couldn't do that, not here, not now. Not with Mulder. "Not at this time," she added stiffly. 

"All right. You're dismissed. Agent Scully, I'll expect your report on my desk by the end of the day. Agent Mulder, Security's been called to escort you out of the building." 

As soon as she got back to the office, she'd make an appointment to see Karen Kossoff. Talking with Karen always helped. Of course, before this latest incident, she'd allowed herself the luxury of leaning on Mulder, a mistake she would not, could not, afford to repeat. The passion she'd thought his greatest strength also made him vulnerable: to quacks and charlatans, to lapses in judgment and even self-harm. 

"I guess I never realized how much I rely on him before this," she'd confided to Karen only last week, describing her vision of the murdered young woman. "She is me." The message had appeared in a mirror, a death omen, written in the blood of the victim. She hadn't wanted to believe it, but the latest blood work confirmed her worst fears. 

Mulder's hand on her shoulder interrupted her revery. "Scully. Do you think you could stop by my apartment after work?" 

She'd been so preoccupied with Mulder that she hadn't stopped to think about what she was going to tell her family. 

"No, Mulder. I can't, not tonight. I told my mother I'd have dinner with her. I was supposed to have seen her on Sunday." 

His face fell. She hated to turn him down. 

Security had arrived and was waiting in the hallway. As Mulder turned to leave, she clasped his wrist. "I'll call you when I get home." 

After hesitating, he took her hand and squeezed it. "I'll be there waiting."

Time was running out. She had to decide now when and how much to divulge to Mulder about the progression of her disease. Karen would press her again about why she was continuing to work. Maybe Karen was right: she stayed because she was afraid of disappointing Mulder. 

Maybe with Karen's help, she'd find the answers and face her demons.


End file.
